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Cartilage degeneration post-meniscectomy performed for degenerative disease versus trauma: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

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Abstract

Objective

To compare the extent of cartilage deterioration in knees with prior meniscal resection related to trauma versus knees with resection related to degenerative disease, and to compare cartilage deterioration in knees with meniscal surgery to knees without meniscal surgery, controlling for prior knee trauma.

Materials and methods

In this cross-sectional study, we assessed cartilage deterioration in right knees of Osteoarthritis Initiative participants: (i) with meniscal surgery due to injury (n = 79); (ii) matched control knees with a prior injury but without meniscal surgery (n = 79); (iii) with meniscal surgery but without preceding injury (n = 36); and (iv) matched control knees without meniscal surgery or prior knee injury (n = 36). Cartilage composition was measured using T2 measurements derived using semi-automatic cartilage segmentation of the right. Linear regression analysis was used to compare compartmental values of T2 between groups.

Results

Comparing the mean T2 values in surgical cases with and without injury our results did not show significant differences (group i vs. iii, p > 0.05). However, knees with previous meniscal surgery showed significantly (p < 0.001) higher mean T2 values across all compartments (i.e., global T2) when compared to those without meniscal surgery for both knees with a history of trauma (group i vs. ii) and knees without prior trauma (group iii vs. iv). Similar results were obtained when analyzing the compartments separately.

Conclusions

Cartilage deterioration, assessed by T2, is similar in knees undergoing meniscal surgery after trauma and for degenerative conditions. Both groups demonstrated greater cartilage deterioration than nonsurgical knees, controlling for prior knee injury.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants and staff of the Coordinating Center of the OAI for their invaluable assistance with patient selection, statistical analysis, and technical support.

Funding

The study was supported by the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a public–private partnership comprising five NIH contracts (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases contracts N01-AR-2-2258, N01-AR-2-2259, N01-AR-2-2260, N01-AR-2-2261, and N01-AR-2-2262), with research conducted by the Osteoarthritis Initiative Study Investigators. The study was also funded in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging, NIH. Private funding partners include Merck Research, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer; the private sector funding for the Osteoarthritis Initiative is managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. The analyses in this study were funded through the NIH/NIAMS (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases grants R01AR064771 and P50-AR060752).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Musculoskeletal Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107, USA

    Jan Neumann, Kai Kern, Dong Sun, Sarah C. Foreman, Gabby B. Joseph, Alexandra S. Gersing & Thomas M. Link

  2. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Jan Neumann & Alexandra S. Gersing

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry St, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107, USA

    Michael C. Nevitt & Charles E. McCulloch

  4. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Azien Quitzke

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  1. Jan Neumann
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Correspondence to Jan Neumann.

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Neumann, J., Kern, K., Sun, D. et al. Cartilage degeneration post-meniscectomy performed for degenerative disease versus trauma: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Skeletal Radiol 49, 231–240 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-019-03267-0

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